Subshrubs, bushy, tangled, low, green, 1–20 dm, not fleshy, stri­gillose; from woody caudices. Stems 1–20+, procumbent to ascending, branched, ± woody, wiry, remotely leafy, deciduous. Leaves subpalmate; stipules glandlike or absent; subsessile; rachis absent; leaflets 3, blades elliptic, apex obtuse, surfaces ± strigillose. Peduncles 0–3 mm, shorter than leaves; bract absent (reduced to stipule), distal. Inflorescences 1(or 2)-flowered. Flow­ers 4–5 mm; calyx 2.5–3 mm, tube ± strigillose, lobes subulate; corolla usually yellow, sometimes ± pinkish or orangish, claws shorter than calyx tube, banner implicate-ascending, wings slightly shorter than to ± equaling keel; style upcurved, glabrous. Legumes per­sistent, exserted, ascending to deflexed, tawny, curved, turgid, not or slightly constricted, not septate, oblong, (5–)6–9 × 1–1.5 mm, leathery, apex beaked, indehiscent, finely veined, margins smooth, sparsely strigillose to glabrate. Seeds 1 or 2, greenish brown, not mottled, straight or ± curved, narrowly cylindric, smooth. 2n = 14.

Phenology: Flowering late winter–spring.
Habitat: Dry rocky slopes, cliffs, mountain washes, creosote bush scrub to pinyon-juniper woodlands.
Elevation: (100–)400–1300 m.

Distribution

• Generated Map
• Legacy Map

Calif., Mexico (Baja California).

Discussion

Acmispon haydonii grows along the western edge of the Sonoran Desert.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

None.